Beside Cool Waters
by A1066
Summary: Leliana wants to get close, but the Warden would rather keep her distance. Can a little time alone and a bath help? fwarden/leliana
1. Chapter 1

The Grey Warden drew her knees up against her armored chest and leaned back against the tree stump. Beside her, smeared with dirt, her helmet lay next to her sheathed long sword. For a moment Leliana fancied that the Warden looked like a mythical hero from a painting, recovering from an epic battle, which she technically was doing. Sweat streaks had carved a path through the blood and dirt that caked her face. Her red hair had pulled part of the way out of her plait on the right side, falling forward to shadow her eye and obscure the tips of her pointed ears. Slumped in her gore-stained armor, she looked smaller and almost vulnerable – the idea which came on Leliana from nowhere almost mad her laugh out loud, there was nothing vulnerable about the Grey Warden who had acted like a raging hellcat since the bard had joined her in Lothering.

Something about her was magnetic to Leliana, though, not that she would ever have imagined a woman with such easily compromised morals and outsized temper could have had that affect on her. Maybe it was because at quiet moments like this, Leliana could see the light track of scars that ran down her neck to disappear into her armor and she could imagine the many scars that lay on the Warden's soul. Growing up in Denerim's squalid Alienage was not a recipe for docility, at least not for those that successfully escaped.

Maybe it was because at louder moments, Leliana felt totally safe beside the Warden, even surrounded by a sea of Dark Spawn, she knew that none would make it through. It had not escaped her carefully trained notice that when things seemed particularly bad, the Warden always found a way to place herself between Leliana and the worst danger. They had never discussed that odd tendency or what it meant. It remained, like so many things, between them -- unspoken. The Warden seemed so distant and untouchable, shielded by sarcasm and a manner of carefully trained aloofness, that it was hard for Leliana to even use her name inside her thoughts, Alexa; it was tantalizing, a symbol of the intimacy that Leliana craved despite her better judgement.

***

Alexa looked up just in time to catch Leliana turning away quickly. From her peripheral vision, she had seen the bard studying her with her luminous eyes. If all of the strength had not been drained from her limbs by another in a long succession of seemingly hopeless battles, she would have invited the other woman over to sit beside her. It was a dangerous idea that Alexa needed to put from her mind, she knew that. Drawing someone as fragile and beautiful as Leliana to her would only result in her destruction. No matter how well their expedition into Orzammar went, or the success of her growing army, this adventure could only end badly. She ran her forearm across her forehead, doing little but smearing the grime further.

"You look like you could use a bath and a rest," a kindly voice commented over her shoulder. She tilted her head back, of course it was Wynne. If she didn't hop up quickly she would probably be treated to a long motherly lecture about cleanliness. The mage set her teeth on edge almost every time she spoke, which had the added benefiting of making Alexa feel a little better about growing up motherless. "Alistair found a clear stream over on the other side of the rocks. No one else is bathing right now, if you need your privacy."

"Privacy", Alexa snorted, pushing off the stump to stagger to her feet. Zevran had been sniffing around her bedroll of days and it wouldn't surprise her if he found a way to accidentally stumble on her bath. Her modesty was hardly her primary concern however, but she worried what Leliana might think if it looked as if she had taken a fancy for the Crow. The slowly building connection between her and the Orlesian bard was inexplicably important to her and somehow she instinctively knew that it was a delicate thread that bound them. Something inside Leliana had been damaged and it had made her almost shy, like a frightened horse. It was selfish to preserve it, knowing as she did that she could not in good conscience (What was that anyway?) act on it, but a little selfishness now and then was not the end of the world. It was, to Alexa's mind, the only way to survive in a world covered in blood and shit.

***

Piece by piece Alexa slipped her armor off; stooping first she unlaced and kicked off her boots, then unbuckled the tooled leather greaves whose pattern of leaves and vines matched the bracers she wiggled out of next. The buckles that held her chest piece and its connected mail skirt caught. She spun around and around, a little like a dog chasing its own tail, as she tried to get leverage. The metal buckles had been bent badly by a bruising shot of maul to the ribs she had taken earlier. At her angle, Alexa could not hope to force the leather straps through the metal. For a long moment she stood and stared down at her side, seething with anger then without any warning she punched the rock beside her. The surprising shock of pain as her knuckle bones ground against the unforgiving stone elicited a shout of pain and frustration. _What to do? What to do?_

At this particularly trying time, Leliana scrambled up and into view over the rocks that shielded the stream from the view of the rest of the camp. Alexa tensed up, becoming perfectly still -- like an embarrassed statue.

"Oh," Leliana breathed in surprise as she caught sight of the frustrated half-dressed Warden staring at her, eyes widened slightly. "I thought I would wash up before dinner. I didn't realize you were here." Her accent made everything she said seem soft, almost comforting, and despite herself Alexa relaxed a little.

"I'm stuck," she replied, gesturing at her buckles helplessly.

***

It was not exactly an accident that Leliana appeared when she did, but as much as she tried, she couldn't feel guilty about the minor subterfuge. After all, minor subterfuge was Leliana's stock in trade. While busy scheming (in the most innocent way possible, she reassured herself) a way to have a private conversation with the Warden, she had heard the valiant struggle. It was an opportunity Leliana couldn't pass up. For weeks, she laid alone in her bedroll near the fire, dreaming heatedly of the Warden's lithe frame and the heat of her skin. With the chance to see her, be near her, in such a private way all of the propriety she had learned in the Chantry flew directly out of the window. She scrambled over the rock with alacrity.

Below her was a breathtaking sight. The Warden's red hair was loose around her shoulders and she was barefoot without her sword belt and greaves, standing still like a frightened deer beside a stream dark in the moonlight.

When Alexa gestured, offering her problem to Leliana, something inside of her twisted. The moonlight seemed more intense. The blood in her veins felt hotter. Every breeze sent electricity into her belly. Leliana was on fire. She was afraid to reach out and touch the armor, afraid if she brushed against the Warden she might accidentally set her on fire.

Her dexterous fingers suddenly lost their usual cleverness. The buckles were broken and without touching the Warden directly, she could not gain the leverage to pry them apart. Gingerly, not even looking over at the woman beside her, she braced one hand on her shoulder and with the other she pulled on the leather straps one after the other, prying the metal back until she could just barely slip them free. "There," she murmured in triumph, taking a step back.

Without even realizing it, she let her eyes trail up the shapely legs while Alexa undressed, not offering her any privacy. _When did I become so brazen?_ She asked herself. It was certainly uncharacteristic of her. For her part, the Warden didn't seem to notice. In a few minutes she stood in her arming tunic and Leliana lost her nerve, turning around. A soft splash alerted her to the fact that the Warden must have dived into the stream. Just the mental image of the sinewy elf, naked, water cascading over her was enough to stop Leliana's heart. The heat inside her was building so intensely that beads of sweat were breaking out along her forearms. _Now or never. Now or never_.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked over her shoulder, too nervous to even glance behind her.

"I don't own the stream. Lowly elf like me, all I own is my sword. You're welcome to some water if you want," the Warden called, a tone of –mocking?—laughter in her voice. "You do look awful warm though, the back of your neck is really red. You better cool off."

_Did she know?_ Leliana gritted her teeth. _What if she knew? What did she think of it?_ The bard had been many places and seen many things, but she was forced to admit that like most humans, she had never focused on the elves that surrounded her, doing all the menial work of society. What sorts of beliefs they held, or view they had, she couldn't even hazard a guess.

"They didn't teach you how to bathe in the Chantry?" the Warden called again. Obviously Leliana was taking too long. Without further delay and with her eyes firmly shut, she shrugged off her robes.

"They didn't teach you manners in the Alienage?" She shot back defiantly before turning to walk slowly into the cool stream water. She kept her eyes fixed in front of her, mostly to avoid bursting into flames by catching sight of stray elf flesh, but also to avoid cutting her foot or twisting her ankle on the wet stones along the bed of the stream.

***

Alexa was only capable of being flip until the brown robe slid off of Leliana's smooth white shoulders. Her tongue immediately caught in her mouth and she was relieved that half-submerged in the dark the blush that was spreading from her face down her neck would not be visible. Silhouetted against the full moon, Leliana's form was exquisite. The grace with which she walked slowly into the water, accentuating the length of her elegant legs, only drew Alexa's eyes higher across the taut plain of her stomach and then higher. She was carved from ivory, perfect and smooth, round.

Maker preserve me, Alexa prayed for the first time in her life before ducking her head into the water. The bracing temperature cleared her head just enough to allow some doubt to crawl its way in. Leliana was in the Chantry and surely they didn't approve of this sort of thing. As far as Alexa had managed to ascertain the Chantry only approved of the Chantry and maybe Templars. Leliana probably meant to innocently bathe, and would undoubtedly be utterly shocked to realize to what distant realms her presence had caused Alexa's mind to wander to. Surely the Maker had not intended to create such perfect, pert breasts if he had not intended for them to be viewed and enjoyed.

She must have been under longer then she realized, trying hard to banish the vivid thoughts, because Leliana was roughly jerking her to the surface. "Are you alright?" She sounded frantic.

Alexa stood up immediately at the feel of Leliana's hands on her shoulder. Her action brought them face to face, both of them naked wet and more than a little excited (for a myriad of reasons). "You scared me half to death," Alexa worked to summon her usual sarcastic tone in hopes that it might create enough distance between them to allow her to catch her breath, but nothing could change the fact that she stood less than six inches from the soft body that had been tormenting her dreams since Lothering.

"I thought you were…" Leliana trailed off lamely and withdrew her hands quickly, like she had been burned. Hurt and confusion flashed in her eyes, immediately making Alexa regret her tone.

"Thought I was drowning myself?" She tried to lighten her voice. "Admittedly, you nearly killed me. I was submerging myself to try to save myself from the peril." Where did that come from? Alexa had been far more forward then she intended, but now that the words were out, she decided to stick to a more flirtatious tone. Even if it offended the bard, at least it wouldn't hurt her feelings.

"Killed you? I don't know--- I mean, I haven't got a clue" Leliana stuttered. A blush marred her cheeks, causing her eyes to sparkle with a nearly feverish light. Something about the guilty tone to her voice, alerted Alexa. All was not as it appeared. Maybe she was imagining what she wanted to see, but surely Leliana didn't seem embarrassed because Alexa's comment had struck a chord.

***

Something had changed in the atmosphere between the two women, Leliana knew that there was more behind the Warden's words then the other woman would willingly admit. It sat between them to either be shrugged off as a joke or picked up tentatively to be explored. Best to come at the problem from an angle, she decided, in case things were somehow not as they appeared.

She reached one hand out of the water and with her graceful, well-trained fingers traced the scars that so fascinated her from below Alexa's ear down her neck (delicately, delicately) and across her collarbone to the point where they terminated at the beginning of the swell of her pert breasts. The calluses from years of musicality tickled against the Warden's skin, but she didn't protest. Instead she stood completely still, breathing deeply and looking everywhere that wasn't the beautiful woman touching her.

"It looks like you—" Leliana was about to suggest an attack by a large bear, when she was interrupted sharply by the Warden.

"Were all cut up by some human nobles for being uppity," Alexa offered sharply and then without any warning ducked back into the water, disappearing below the surface. The elf must swim like a fish, or have gills, Leliana mused, since she stayed under so long. The burst of red hair broke the surface further down the stream. It streamed, wet and slick, down the elf's perfect back. It seemed now that the space between them was wider than it had ever been. Leliana had failed again and the sick feeling this though elicited in the pit of her stomach reminded her painfully of Marjolaine.

What would it take to apologize? She had never considered that possibility, it should have been obvious though, the Warden had lived a hard life. Elves in the Alienage rarely lived easy lives and the path of a Grey Warden was hardly comfortable. The sarcasm was a shield that the Warden had drawn up around her. How could anyone hope to break through it?

The elf seemed to be ignoring her now, the muscles in her shapely back contracted as she began scrubbing the gore vigorously from her arms. After a moment she ducked under the water again, reemerging with a handful of sand to work against her shoulders.

***

She hadn't meant to sound quite so bitter, really she had meant it to be more offhand. She had intended to impress with her ability to shrug off life's little defeats. _Little? _Three skilled noblemen's sons with swords and she with her first knife; it was a wonder the fading scars that puckered her otherwise fine complexion were all that she escaped that scrape with. Not that the men had been so lucky. Leliana didn't seem impressed. Rather, she seemed stricken. So Alexa had given her space to recover herself, but that had only seemed to make matters worse. The tension between them had taken on a different feel, as if the temperature had changed. The heat was going out to be replaced by a terrible cold stillness. Still, Alexa resolutely scrubbed. If the bard didn't have the stomach to handle the reality of Alexa's life, better to know that now. But, she reminded herself, a little selfishness now and then was what made a life like hers occasionally bearable and Leliana was certainly not the sort of woman to reach out and take things, no matter how obviously proffered.

"You can keep staring," Alexa could feel Leliana's eyes on her back as she scrubbed, "Or you can come help. I can't reach my back and I sweated something awful down my spine this afternoon".


	2. Chapter 2

The Warden's offer stunned Leliana, but a woman as skilled in subterfuge and performance as she was never stayed immobilized for long. She recovered, reaching up to slick the hair back from her face causing it to cling damply to her scalp. The whole situation quite reminded her of a song, but she just couldn't seem to summon the words to mind. _That's just life for you_ she mused, _one long song and all the words keep getting forgotten._

Without further delay, for fear the offer might be retracted or some sort of sarcastic joke that she had failed to identify, Leliana stepped up behind the elf woman and reached out to run her palm down her spine. Her skin was slick with water and smooth, like running a piece of fine silk through her hand. She noticed that the path of her hand had caused a trail of goosebumps to rise on the Warden's back.

"You're so beautiful," she murmured, not even realizing she had vocalized the thought until it had escaped her lips. Too late to take it back now.

The Warden leaned back until she Leliana's breasts grazed her muscular shoulder blades. "You're not so bad looking yourself," she said, punctuating her comment with a low, seductive laugh.

It felt so damn good for Leliana to be near her, to hear her talk to her, to be compliment. She slipped her hands around the Warden's waist as she dipped her head to kiss the luscious curve where the elf's chiseled shoulder met her neck, brushing past her scars. An intoxication sensation swept up from Leliana's lips through all of the nerves in her body to her brain, which quickly fogged over as a result. _How was this happening? Why wasn't the Warden….Alexa….why wasn't Alexa stopping her?_

Alexa murmured something, tilting her head to expose more of her neck to Leliana's warm mouth. _That's a good sign. _Leliana couldn't remember the last time she had held a beautiful woman in her arms, but she could still remember the moves to make.

"That's nice," Alexa nearly moaned. She reached down to cover Leliana's hands at her hips with her own, then slowly she drew them up over the flat plane of her taut stomach to her breasts. "That's better."

Taking that as a pretty clear signal to advance, Leliana licked her way up the column of Alexa's neck to the edge of her jaw. She kissed it delicately along the curve until her mouth met the elf's delectable earlobe. The elf leaned back further against her with a sigh. The bard nipped her earlobe gently, then let her tongue trace the elongated shell of her ear. She was so soft. For a woman that had known such pain, that had lived such a hard life, she was so remarkably soft to the touch.

"I'm going to drown. I don't think I can stand any longer. Lucky girl like you just has to stand back and fire your little arrows. Some of us have to stab things," Alexa groaned. It was visibly difficult for her to pull away from Leliana, a fact which did not pass the bard without notice. She straightened up and dove under the water before Leliana could protest.

When she surfaced she was further downstream and close to the shore. Now that she mentioned it, Leliana noticed that the Warden,( it was so hard to think of her as Alexa now that the spell that seemed to be powering her was broken by the physical distance between them) looked tired. The shadows thrown across her features by the moonlight made her look drawn. The battle with the contingent of hurlocks on the road from Lake Calenhad toward the foot of the Frostback mountains, their next destination, had been a difficult one. Zevran had slipped in a puddle of darkspawn gore and managed to gouge his bicep with his own dagger-blade. It had necessitated a rather daring maneuver on Alexa's part to save him from an impending beheading by the Hurlock he had just failed to stab. Wynne had been knocked out from behind by an emissary at the beginning of the ambush, leaving the rest to fend for themselves without her usual healing magic. The heat coursing through Leliana's veins didn't fade, but it was tempered by tenderness. What she would give to just get to hold the Warden while she slept, even if she didn't get to touch her the way her fingers ached to. Her presence alone made Leliana feel safe.

Alexa walked out of the stream, water sheeting off of her. With her hair slicked away from her face and down her back, her pointy ears were prominent – she looked something like a nymph. The thought forced Leliana to smile as she headed in toward the beach. Alexa would probably find the idea equally amusing, for different reasons.

***

Everything about Leliana's caresses suited Alexa perfectly. The bard seemed to have a direct psychic connection with the part of her brain that controlled all the best kinds of sensations. Part of her body was definitely in the groove, but the parts of her body that kept her upright were burning from the day's exertion. Regrettably, she was forced to pull away before she collapsed entirely. It would have been an unconscionable show of weakness to have to be pulled out of the water by her potential lover.

The small bar of sand that separated the stream from the steep pile of rocks was a welcoming spot for a rest. Moonlight reflected dazzlingly off the quartz granules that mixed with the less sparkly sand. _A slice of heaven just for me_. A little selfishness could go a long way.

She dropped onto her back on the beach closing her eyes and relaxing all of her muscles, still naked and little concerned with the way the sand stuck to her damp skin. The last heat of the day remained trapped in the white grains warming her back. Leliana's arrival seemed to be taking much longer then she had expected. Hesitantly, she opened one eye just enough to catch the outline of the other woman at the edge of the water.

***

The elf woman wriggled sensuously into the warm sand; her back arched and her breasts with their tantalizingly hardened nipples thrust up toward the sky. Her eyelashes were long and surprisingly feminine, so that when she closed her eyes they gave her face a soft, vulnerable cast. Leliana could only assume that she was unaware of what an erotic display she was providing. The bard was very aware – aware from her brain which currently housed her overheated imagination down to the juncture of her thighs.

"You're—" her voice trailed off, anything she could say would be so inadequate for the feelings that were rushing through her – lust, tenderness, an almost desperate desire for Alexa to reciprocate her overwhelming desire.

"So very tired," Alexa finished the sentence for her. "You are amazing. I can only imagine what you'll do to me next, but I'm so damn tired." She reached a hand out toward the bard, opening one eye again to peer up at her. "Lay next to me for a minute, just so I can catch my breath?"


	3. Chapter 3

Leliana stretched out on the sand next to Alexa, luxuriating in the feel of warm sand and the proximity to the other woman. She laid on her side, propping her head up on one elbow so that she could look down on the elf next to her. The brazen part of Leliana had been mostly subdued since her flight from Marjolaine and her long stay at Lothering's chantry. The terrible betrayal of her mentor, and sometimes lover, had inflicted a terrible shyness on Leliana around women who attracted her.

She hadn't really noticed the damage to her own psyche until she had met the Warden at the beginning of her quest. The instant she walked into the tavern in Lothering, Leliana felt a sweep of emotions she couldn't control and she couldn't summon the courage to articulate. There was more to the way she had been pulled to the elf and her companions than just her vision. The shining dream that had forced her destiny into a new path certainly made it easier to talk to the exquisite elf woman, but it had not made her lay awake at night preoccupied with the slightest glance the Warden had shot her way during the day.

The Leliana before Marjolaine would have seen a woman that she wanted and done something about it, bards were famous for being smooth talkers after all. Now, though, it had taken Leliana months of silent longing to make it this far, lying naked beside Alexa on a beach under the moon. _Slow and steady wins the race._

Leliana enjoyed the view and mused to herself, lulled into relaxation by how natural and right everything felt. Without warning, Alexa's hand shot up, catching Leliana's shoulder and sending the bard sprawling across her. The electric contact, skin to skin, caused Leliana to gasp.

"I got cold," Alexa explained, a faint smile curving her lips, but she never opened her eyes.

"Clothing is for when you get cold." Leliana wriggled, ostensibly to position herself more comfortably but it was an excuse to feel the brush of smooth skin against as much of her as possible. The friction was tantalizing.

"Mmmm, but you're warmer then clothing."

And it was the truth, Leliana was on fire. A blush colored her cheeks and she ducked her head, but she didn't make any attempt to move away. They lay, stomach to stomach, breasts pressed to each other, breathing almost in sync for a long moment before Leliana could concentrate enough to reply. "I thought you were tired."

"I am tired. You should tell me a bedtime story." Alexa opened one eye and then closed it sleepily again.

"I know many stories."

"You're the bard. You pick one. Tell me a story about Orzammar. I'm not really looking forward to being trapped under a mountain." She wrapped her arms around Leliana's waist possessively and opened both her eyes. The strength in Alexa's embrace was nearly enough to make Leliana swoon.

"I don't have any stories about Orzammar. I have stories about Orlesians. But I think you've heard most of my stories," Leliana protested breathlessly.

"Tell me a story about you, then. How the hell did a woman like you end up with the Chantry?"

"That's not an interesting story." Leliana rested her head on Alexa's shoulder and turned her face into her warm neck.

"Then tell me the story of what happens now," Alexa's voice was suddenly very soft, the sarcasm had gone out of it. Her arms tightened around Leliana's waist as if to ensure that the other woman couldn't suddenly be pulled away from her.

"I thought it was obvious." The power dynamic between the two had shifted and it made Leliana feel very tenderly toward the woman that held her. "We're going to make love. Tomorrow, I'm going to follow you to Orzammar. Eventually, you'll become a celebrated hero and leave me behind to write epic love songs about the elf that got away."

Alexa shook her head and made a dismissive noise. "I'm no hero. Alistair will get all the glory, he's the handsome human man. I'm the lowly elf, history will probably remember me as the porter or something. The dog is going to be more famous than me."

"The dog is more friendly then you are, that's why," Leliana joked. She kissed Alexa's neck, shifting her weight a little to press closer. "But you don't seem to have an argument against the first part."

A shiver ran down Alexa's spine and she tipped her head back, offering more skin to Leliana's lips. "Well, you are going to follow me to Orzammar, its either that or find your way alone back to Lake Calenhad which is days away." She drew both her hands up from Leliana's waist, tracing patterns with the tips of her fingers along Leliana's back.

"You're being obtuse."

"You're only saying that because you know how irresistible you sound when you say 'obtuse' in that accent of yours," Alexa countered.

It wasn't the first time that Leliana's accent had been a point of conversation. When she had first come to Ferelden, fleeing her past desperately, she had suffered no small amount of contempt, especially in the more conservative, rural areas like Lothering. Try as hard as she could, Leliana couldn't soften the accent especially when she sang. Eventually, she had simply given up and learned to smile and finally after she had been in Lothering long enough, people had just stopped noticing. Something about Alexa's preference for it made her feel closer to the elf who had suffered as an outsider for her own otherness.

Leliana pushed herself up, holding herself over Alexa with her weight on her hands buried in the sand. Her face hovered above Alexa's, lips nearly touching. "I guess I can just forget the making love part then. You do look tired and we have a long way to go in the morning. I've already kept you up far too long," she teased, so close that her breath caressed Alexa's semi-parted lips. "Do all elves get so tired or is it just you?"

"Maybe you're putting me to sleep." Alexa closed her eyes and feigned sleep, but she couldn't contain the wicked smile that crept across her face.

Leliana leaned all her weight onto her left hand to free her right one. The movement prompted Alexa to open one eye just a little to keep track of what the bard was up to. She was still surprised, though, when Leliana's nimble fingers slid between their bodies and down Alexa's belly. The elf's eyes flew open at the feeling of her fingers.

"That woke you up."

And it kept both of them up as the moon wheeled across the sky. Neither noticed their own fatigue as their bodies moved together in unison. Leliana knew, as she drifted off to sleep snuggled to Alexa's side, that something between them had changed permanently -- how they would navigate it in the face of so much death and destruction in the future would be the real adventure.


End file.
